TY - JOUR
KW - 4954 Paleoceanography: Sea surface temperature
KW - 4962 Paleoceanography: Thermohaline
KW - North Atlantic Oscillation
KW - paleocirculation
KW - subpolar North Atlantic
AU - I. Hall
AU - K. Boessenkool
AU - S. Barker
AU - I. McCave
AU - H. Elderfield
AB - The subpolar North Atlantic Ocean (SPNA) is of key importance for modulating the climate of NW Europe because of heat loss to the atmosphere from the North Atlantic Current. Although hydrographic properties of the surface SPNA vary on interannual to multidecadal timescales, hydrographic time series scarcely extend back beyond the 1950s. We present a 230 year long record of SPNA surface conditions reconstructed from a very high accumulation rate core that also registers changes in deep flow speed in the Iceland Basin. A lagged correlation is observed between the records of deep flow speed and stable oxygen isotopic composition of the surface SPNA (δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>w</sub>), with strongest correlation when the paleoflow speed record leads by 15\textendash20 years. This offset may to some extent reflect size-selective biological mixing of the sediment. Nonetheless, these records reveal a decadal-scale coupling between surface and deep ocean variability over the past 230 years, possibly driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation, with implications for North Atlantic circulation and climate.
BT - Paleoceanography
M1 - 2
N2 - The subpolar North Atlantic Ocean (SPNA) is of key importance for modulating the climate of NW Europe because of heat loss to the atmosphere from the North Atlantic Current. Although hydrographic properties of the surface SPNA vary on interannual to multidecadal timescales, hydrographic time series scarcely extend back beyond the 1950s. We present a 230 year long record of SPNA surface conditions reconstructed from a very high accumulation rate core that also registers changes in deep flow speed in the Iceland Basin. A lagged correlation is observed between the records of deep flow speed and stable oxygen isotopic composition of the surface SPNA (δ<sup>18</sup>O<sub>w</sub>), with strongest correlation when the paleoflow speed record leads by 15\textendash20 years. This offset may to some extent reflect size-selective biological mixing of the sediment. Nonetheless, these records reveal a decadal-scale coupling between surface and deep ocean variability over the past 230 years, possibly driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation, with implications for North Atlantic circulation and climate.
PB - AGU
PY - 2010
SN - 0883-8305
EP - PA2101
T2 - Paleoceanography
TI - Surface and deep ocean coupling in the subpolar North Atlantic during the last 230 years
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009PA001886
VL - 25
ER -